Megalopolis (2024)

Adam Driver plays an architect who can stop time in Megalopolis, and there are stretches where you’d love to borrow the power just to catch up. In Francis Ford Coppola’s alternate America, Cesar Catilina, inventor of a revolutionary building material called Megalon, wants to clear out old New Rome and build a utopia. Mayor Franklyn Cicero would rather put up a casino. Cicero’s daughter Julia falls for Cesar anyway, Aubrey Plaza’s Wow Platinum and Shia LaBeouf’s Clodio Pulcher scheme from every corner, and a Soviet satellite crashes into the city. The effects can look cheap, the acting styles don’t match, and the story keeps dropping threads. But nobody else would make this, and its hope for the future is sincere. Critics split hard, at 46% on Rotten Tomatoes, and CinemaScore audiences gave it a D+. It made $14.4 million worldwide on a reported $120M to $136M. A 4.6 because the ambition is real and the movie can’t hold it. $997 says your next big idea gets nicknamed Megalon, and nobody at work knows what you mean.

What works: The sheer scale of the swing, the costumes and score, and Adam Driver playing every line like it’s carved in stone.

What doesn’t: The plot is overstuffed and drops ideas constantly, the effects can look cheap, and the performances feel like they come from three different movies.

Who it’s for: Film lovers who would rather watch a legend take a huge swing and miss than play it safe.